Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul
Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul, says concerns about the use of antibiotics in livestock as a growth promoter are not rampant in this country, as the sector prides itself on doing things the natural way.
His comments came in an interview with The Barbados Advocate as he reflected on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) brought about by the misuse or abuse of antimicrobials including antibiotics. Earlier this week, during a virtual event hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency and the Pan American Health Organisation, there was concern raised about indiscriminate use of antimicrobials in animals in the Americas for growth promotion and the lack of the requisite legislative framework to put an end to it.
“I am not aware of any growth promoters being used in Barbados in terms of the livestock industry. We don’t use them. Yes we know about it, but it is not something we have encouraged. As a matter of fact, we shun it because we want to exercise a higher level of responsibility to consumers in Barbados in general, taking into consideration the negative impact that it has on the human population. And what we have done, we have actually chosen more natural ways of livestock husbandry, through genetic selection to improve the breed of animals,” he stated.
He spoke to this, as he made it clear that the local feed manufacturer does not use antibiotics in its products. So serious is the industry about keeping antibiotics out of the equation, he said, that if a processor suspects that growth promoters have been used, that farmer is taken off the list.
Paul noted that while those involved in the livestock sector have been abiding by that best practice of avoiding growth promoters, some feed importers put that best practice at risk. As such, he is adamant that a close eye must be kept on imports. He said that while the claim of some farmers is that when they use imported feeds they see a better performance, if that is the result of growth promoters, he maintained that the risk to animal and human health is not worth it.
“I want to say that from our investigations, we have discovered that there are some imported feeds that do contain antibiotics, this is of course an issue we have raised before with the authorities. We do not have a level playing field where the imported feeds that contain antibiotics are allowed to come in and compete with the local feed that does not contain any antibiotics. One of the things we can guarantee local consumers is that the feed made by Pinnacle Feeds do not contain any antibiotics, but we cannot say the same for the feeds being imported from wherever, and therefore we continue to laud our local feed company for their higher level of social responsibility,” he added.
With that in mind, he is calling on the relevant authorities to exam this issue and hold importers of feed to a higher standard.
“After a while, antibiotics used in livestock can pose a risk to humans. People can develop a resistance to certain drugs and not understand why, but it could be because of what they ate,” he noted. (JRT)